Packaging machine

ABSTRACT

A machine for aligning the side walls of a continuously moving carton disposed in enveloping relationship about a continuously moving group of articles and having an open bottom wall panel and for positioning the bottom wall panel relative to the side walls comprises side registering means movable in synchronism with the carton and articles and provided with registering probes disposed to enter registering apertures formed in each side wall of the carton together with synchronous rotatable bottom registering means arranged to enter a registering aperture formed in a bottom wall panel of the carton to hold that panel in position relative to the carton side walls. Following the desired orientation of the side and bottom walls relative to each other, the bottom wall panel is secured in closed position by suitable locking means.

United States Patent [191 Calvert PACKAGING MACHINE [75] Inventor: Rodney K. Calvert, Dunwoody, Ga.

[73] Assignee: The Mead Corporation, Dayton,

Ohio

[22] Filed: Nov. 5, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 196,140

[52] U.S. Cl. 53/48 [51] Int. Cl B65b 21/00, B65b 61/00 [58] Field of Search 53/48, 209, 285, 53/26, 32, 35

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,303,631 2/1967 Ganz 53/48 3,543,473 12/1970 Cato 53/48 3,300,947 1/1967 Fahrenbach 53/186 3,085,377 4/1963 Ganz 53/48 X 2,276,129 3/1942 Wesselman 53/29 X Primary ExaminerRobert L. Spruill Att0rney-Walter M. Rodgers [5 7] ABSTRACT A machine for aligning the side walls of a continuously moving carton disposed in enveloping relationship about a continuously moving group of articles and having an open bottom wall panel and for positioning the bottom wall panel relative to the side walls comprises side registering means movable in synchronism with the carton and articles and provided with registering probes disposed to enter registering apertures formed in each side wall of the carton together with synchronous rotatable bottom registering means arranged to enter a registering aperture formed in a bottom wall panel of the carton to hold that panel in position relative to the carton side walls. Following the desired orientation of the side and bottom walls relative to each other, the bottom wall panel is secured in closed position by suitable locking means.

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- EFEM 1} RODNEY CALVERT PACKAGING MACHINE A continuously moving carton disposed about a continuously moving group of articles and having bottom panels depending downwardly from the bottom edges of the side walls is supported on a sword-like element which directly takes the weight of the articles and underneath which the bottom panels are folded into overlapping relation and then locked together in order to complete the carton. The bottom panels of such a carton cannot be closed properly unless the various carton elements are properly oriented with respect to each other.

According to this invention, the side walls of a carrier as described are held in substantial transverse alignment with each other as the bottom panels are folded inwardly into overlapping relationship and one of the bottom panels according to a feature of the invention, is held in a desired positional relationship relative to the carton side walls so that the bottom wall of the carrier may be completed by securing the overlapped bottom panels together.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a perspectivew view of a packaging machine to which the invention is applicable and which is constructed in accordance with the invention, some of the packages being omitted for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a blank from which a carrier is formed and which is manipulated into set-up condition about a group of articles by the machine of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view of a collapsed carrier formed from the blank of FIG. 2; 1

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a set-up unloaded carrier constructed from the blank of FIG. 2 and whose bottom wall is closed;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the near side of the outfeed end of the machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the mechanism depicted in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line designated 77 in FIG. 1 and in which FIG. 8 is an end view of the carton shown in set-up unloaded condition but with its bottom wall panels open.

The carton as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 is specially adapted for use in conjunction with the machine and method of this invention and comprises a side wall 1 to the bottom edge 2 of which a bottom wall panel 3 is foldably joined. A plurality oflocking tabs 4 are formed along an edge of bottom wall panel 3. End wall panel 5 is foldably joined to an end edge of side wall 1 along a fold line 6 while at the other end of the carrier an end wall panel 7 is foldably joined to side wall 1 along fold line 8. A riser panel 9 is foldably joined to end wall panel 5 along fold line 10 and a similar riser panel 11 is foldably joined to end wall panel 7 along fold line 12.

The handle structure of the carrier comprises an outer handle panel 13 foldably joined to riser panel 9 along fold line 10 and provided with a hand gripping aperture 14. Partition strips designated by the numerals 15, 16, and 17 are interconnected between side wall 1 and handle panel 13 and are of conventional construction. Reinforcing panel 18 having a hand gripping aperture 19 is foldably joined to handle panel 13 along fold line 20. An outer handle panel 21 is foldably joined along medial fold line 22 to the top edge of handle panel 13. Hand gripping'aperture 23 is formed in handle panel 21 and a reinforcing panel 24 is foldably joined to handle panel 21 along a fold line 25 and is provided with a hand gripping aperture 26. Reinforcing panels ,18 and 24 are foldably joined together along their top edges by a fold line 27.

A plurality of conventional partition strips designated by the numerals 28, 29 and 30 interconnect handle panel 21 and the side wall of the carrier designated by the numeral 31. For a more detailed description of the partition elements reference may be had to U. S. Patent application Ser. No. 196,110 filed Nov. 5, 1971.

End wall panel 32 is foldably joined along fold line 33 to side wall 31 and riser panel 34 is foldably joined to end wall panel 32 along fold line 35. Similarly end wall panel 36 at the other end of the carrier is foldably joined to side wall 31 along fold line 37 and riser panel 38 is foldably joined to end wall panel 36 along fold line 39. Bottom wall panel 40 is foldably joined to side wall 31 along fold line 41 and is provided with a plurality of retaining tabs 42.

The blank of FIG. 2 is glued and its various panels manipulated to form the complete collapsed carrier as is shown in-FIG. 3. For a complete explanation of these gluing and folding operations reference may be had to US. application Ser. No. 196,110 filed Nov. 5, 1971. Briefly stated, the handle panels 13 and 21 are given an application of glue as are the reinforcing panels 18 and 24. Thereafter reinforcing panels 18 and 24 are folded upwardly toward the left to become adhered to the inner surfaces of handle panels 13 and 21. An application of glue is made to the riser panels 9, 34, 11 and 38 at the portions thereof adjacent fold lines 22 and 27 and these panels are folded inwardly along fold lines 10, 35, 12 and 39 respectively. Thereafter an application of glue is made to the exposed areas of the'riser panels 9, 34, 11 and 38 and to the inner surfaces of reinforcing panels 18 and 24 following which side wall 1 and all elements of the carrier disposed above the fold lines 22 and 27 are elevated and folded forwardly. Upon completion of this folding operation the carrier appears as shown in FIG. 3.

Generally speaking and as is more fully explained in US. application Ser. No. 196,560 filed Nov. 8, 1971 the collapsed blank as shown in FIG. 3 is withdrawn from a hopper and then set up and lowered into enveloping relation relative to a group of articles such as bottles B which are continuously moving from right to left as indicated by the arrow 43 in FIG. 1. After loading, a bottom panel of the carrier is folded underneath the articles and locked in position while the articles are resting on a sword. The carrier then appears in completed form as indicated at P in FIG. 1.

As is best shown in FIG. 1 a machine embodying this invention comprises a hopper structure generally designated by the numeral 44 in which a stack of collapsed carrier blanks in the form shown in FIG. 3 and designated by the numeral C are disposed. These blanks are withdrawn by suitable feeder means in sequence and are moved into set-up condition and then lowered in sequence into enveloping relationship relative to the groups of articles moving from right to left medially of the machine. For a complete description of the overall machine of FIG. 1 reference may be had to US. application Ser. No. 196,560 filed Nov. 8, 1971.

Once a carrier C is lowered into enveloping relation relative to a group of articles B the bottom wall panel 40 is folded underneath the sword S as best shown in FIG. 7 while the bottles B are disposed on sword S. Before the locking tabs can be driven into the openings defined by retaining tabs 42, it is necessary to insure that the locking tabs are in proper registry with their associated retaining tabs. This registration is effected according to this invention while the article group including the carrier and associated bottles are moved on sword S at high speed from right to left by the pusher elements 45 mounted on continuous chain 46 disposed about sprocket 47 and another sprocket not shown and rotatable on shaft 49 in known manner.

The side walls of the carrier such as 1 and 31 are provided with registering apertures and their associated tabs which are designated in the drawings by the numerals Al-A6.

For entering the apertures such as A1, A2, A3 formed in side wall 1, a plurality of probes designated by the numeral 51 are mounted in spaced relation on the endless element 52 which is supported by rotatable sprockets 53 and 48 mounted in any suitable manner. Thus with endless element 52 moving in synchronism with the other machine elements and with its working reach 55 moving at the same speed as the pushers 45 and at the same general level as sword S, the side wall 1 is held in a desired position relative to the other panels of the carton and with respect to the various machine elements because of the registration of probes 51 in apertures Al, A2, and A3. Since the bottles B are supported on sword S, the probes 51 can move under bottles B with adequate clearance.

In order to insure that side wall 31 is in transverse alignment with the side wall 1, suitable probes are arranged to enter registering apertures A4, A5, and A6 formed in the bottom portion of side wall 31. In FIG. 7 these probes are shown and are designated by the same numerals as are the corresponding probes on the other side of the carrier, only one system of probes being shown in FIG. 5. Thus with the two side registering means 51, 52 moving in unison the carton side walls 1 and 31 are held in secure transverse alignment.

In the drawings the apertures Al-.A6 are shown more or less in transverse alignment with certain of the tabs 4 and 42. For some applications of the invention it is preferable to locate the apertures Al-A6 out of transverse alignment with tabs 4 and 42 i.e. to one side of a vertical center line through the tabs 4 and 42 as viewed in FIG. 2.

For the purpose of insuring a desired positional relationship of the carton bottom wall panel 40 with reference to the side walls 1 and 31, a registering aperture A7 is formed in bottom wall panel 40 and this aperture receives a bottom registering probe 56 rotatably mounted on and supported by a shaft 57 driven in synchronism with the machine. As is apparent in FIG. 7 probe 56 is provided with a radially extending portion 58 which enters the opening A7 and because bottom registering element 56 is moving in synchronism with the machine and is secured against substantial transverse movement, the bottom wall panel 40 is held in a predetermined positional relationship relative to the side walls I and 3]. Slot or space 81 facilitates this operation as is obvious in FIG. 7. When so held, the locking wheel generally designated by the numeral 59 is disposed so as to drive the locking tabs 4 into the respective openings defined by retaining tabs 42, such operation being facilitated byslot or space S2 in sword S. Preferably the radial probe 58 is arranged so that it enters opening A7 just before locking finger 59 engages the leading locking tab 4 to begin a locking operation. After the bottom wall panel 40 is interlocked with bottom wall panel 3, the carrier C and its associated arti' cles B is moved from right to left as viewed in FIG. 1 to occupy the position designated P where the carrier is complete and moved off the sword S.

For some applications of the invention the carton may be constructed with its bottom panels 3 and 40 of equal width and to form apertures such as A7 in each such panel. In such instances the machine as shown in FIG. 7 would be modified by adding another probe such as 56 to register with the additional aperture A7 and the locking fingers 59 would be shifted to a position nearer the center of the carton i.e. toward the left.

Furthermore it is possible to omit the apertures such as Al-A3 or A4-A6 from one side wall of the carton. Similarly the apertures such as A7 may in some instances be omitted and reliance placed on apertures A1-A6 where the carton panels are small and easy to hold in proper relationship to each other.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

I claim:

1. A machine for manipulating an open bottom wall panel of a basket style article carrier having side and end walls arranged in enveloping relation with respect to a group of articles and having bottom wall panels foldablyjoined to the side walls and with registering apertures formed in said side walls adjacent the bottom edges thereof, said machine including a fixed sword, means for moving the carrier and associated articles along said sword with the bottom edges of the carrier side walls disposed alongside said sword and below the bottoms of the articles and wherein the improvement comprises side registering means disposed at approximately the same level as said sword and movable in synchronism with the carrier and articles to positions partially underneath the articles and arranged to engage and cooperate with said registering apertures formed in the bottom portions of each of the two opposed side walls of the carrier to maintain substantial transverse alignment therebetween, bottom registering means secured against substantial transverse movement and rotatable about a shaft which is transverse to the direction of movement of the carrier and articles and operable in synchronism with the carrier and articles and arranged to engage and cooperate with one of said bottom wall panels to maintain a predetermined positional relationship between said side walls and said one bottom wall panel, and means for closing said bottom wall panel while said side walls are held in transverse alignment by said side registering means.

2. A machine for manipulating an open bottom wall panel of a basket style article carrier having side and end walls arranged in enveloping relation with respect to a group of articles and having bottom wall panels foldably joined to the side walls and with at least one registering aperture formed in each of said side walls adjacent the bottom edges thereof, said machine including a fixed sword, means for moving the carrier and associated articles along said sword with the bottom edges of the carrier side walls disposed alongside said sword and below the bottoms of the articles and with the bottoms of the articles in direct contact with and slidably supported by said sword at a level above the bottom edges of said side walls and wherein the improvement comprises side registering means the operative elements of which are disposed at approximately the same level as said sword and movable in synchronism with the carrier and articles to positions partially underneath the articles and arranged to engage and enter said registering apertures formed in portions of each of the two opposed side walls which are disposed immediately above the bottom edges of said side walls of the carrier to maintain substantial transverse alignment therebetween, and means for closing said bottom wall panel while said side walls are held in transverse alignment by said side registering means and while said articles are movably supported by said sword, the

weight of the articles being shifted to said bottom wall panels as the articles are lowered as they are moved off of said sword.

3. A machine according to claim 1 wherein said bottom registering means comprises a registering probe disposed underneath said sword and arranged to enter a registering aperture formed in said one carrier bottom wall panel and in said sword.

4. A machine according to claim 1 wherein a locking finger is rotatable in unison with said bottom registering means and is operable to interlock said one bottom panel with a complementary bottom panel.

5. A machine according to claim 4 wherein said bottom registering means engages said one bottom wall panel just prior to engagement of said locking finger therewith. 

1. A machine for manipulating an open bottom wall panel of a basket style article carrier having side and end walls arranged in enveloping relation with respect to a group of articles and having bottom wall panels foldably joined to the side walls and with registering apertures formed in said side walls adjacent the bottom edges thereof, said machine including a fixed sword, means for moving the carrier and associated articles along said sword with the bottom edges of the carrier side walls disposed alongside said sword and below the bottoms of the articles and wherein the improvement comprises side registering means disposed at approximately the same level as said sword and movable in synchronism with the carrier and articles to positions partially underneath the articles and arranged to engage and cooperate with said registering apertures formed in the bottom portions of each of the two opposed side walls of the carrier to maintain substantial transverse alignment therebetween, bottom registering means secured against substantial transverse movement and rotatable about a shaft which is transverse to the direction of movement of the carrier and articles and operable in synchronism with the carrier and articles and arranged to engage and cooperate with one of said bottom wall panels to maintain a predetermined positional relationship between said side walls and said one bottom wall panel, and means for closing said bottom wall panel while said side walls are held in transverse alignment by said side registering means.
 2. A machine for manipulating an open bottom wall panel of a basket style article carrier having side and end walls arranged in enveloping relation with respect to a group of articles and having bottom wall panels foldably joined to the side walls and with at least one registering aperture formed in each of said side walls adjacent the bottom edges thereof, said machine including a fixed sword, means for moving the carrier and associated articles along said sword with the bottom edges of the carrier side walls disposed alongside said sword and below the bottoms of the articles and with the bottoms of the articles in direct contact with and slidably supported by said sword at a level above the bottom edges of said side walls and wherein the improvement comprises side registering means the operative elements of which are disposed at approximately the same level as said sword and movable in synchronism with the carrier and articles to positions partially underneath the articles and arranged to engage and enter said registering apertures formed in portions of each of the two opposed side walls which are disposed immediately above the bottom edges of said side walls of the carrier to maintain substantial transverse alignment therebetween, and means for closing said bottom wall panel while said side walls are hEld in transverse alignment by said side registering means and while said articles are movably supported by said sword, the weight of the articles being shifted to said bottom wall panels as the articles are lowered as they are moved off of said sword.
 3. A machine according to claim 1 wherein said bottom registering means comprises a registering probe disposed underneath said sword and arranged to enter a registering aperture formed in said one carrier bottom wall panel and in said sword.
 4. A machine according to claim 1 wherein a locking finger is rotatable in unison with said bottom registering means and is operable to interlock said one bottom panel with a complementary bottom panel.
 5. A machine according to claim 4 wherein said bottom registering means engages said one bottom wall panel just prior to engagement of said locking finger therewith. 